Evaluación del contenido de cadmio en suelos y raicillas de plantaciones de cacao, Napo, Ecuador

Abstract

The content of Cadmium in cocoa plantations is a problema that currently afflicts the cocoa regions of the contry because this is a metal of high danger to the health of human beings, plants, and animals. In the present study, the concentration of cadmium in soils and rootlest of cocoa plantations was determinated by the atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) method from acid digestión on the farm “Estrella del Oriente”, Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, Napo, Ecuador, with the fine aroma variety (Theobroma cacao L.). a total of 24 composite soil and 24 rootlet samples are collected, taken at two different depths. The physicochemical parameters carried out in the soil samples were performed by gravimetric methods. The results indicate that there is a higher concentration of cadmium in rootlets with an average obtained of 0.55 mg/Kg in cluster 4 at the depth of 0-15 cm and a lower concentration with an average of 0.45 mg/Kg in cluster 3 at depth 15-30 cm, considering that this was in symbiosis with citrus, while for soil, with a higher concentration of cadmium in conglomerate 4 at depth 0-15 cm with an average of 0.41 mg/Kg and lower concentration with an average of 0.35 mg/Kg in cluster 3 at depth 15-30 cm, thus conclunding thad cadmium concentrations for both soils an rootlets are within the range established by European Union Regulation No. 2021/133, for agricultural soils. It is recommended to expand the assessments of cadmium content in cocoa plantation soils at the national level to keep each region´s cadmium concentration values up to date.